Predicting which medicines reach the tumor in DIPG
- Good it would do
- 5 / 5
- Can AI help
- 3 / 5
- How neglected
- 4 / 5
- Can we check it
- 2 / 5
Why it's stuck
The barrier between blood and brain stays intact in DIPG and may be tighter in the brainstem than elsewhere. General models of brain penetration are not built for this tissue, and the patient group is too small to draw industry money.
What we'd try
Model how approved and shelved medicines cross a brainstem-specific barrier, and rank the ones worth testing in the lab.
Why we stopped
Parked, not rejected: the premise that the brainstem barrier is tighter is contested in the published evidence, and there is almost no paired brainstem-versus-cortex drug measurement to train or test a model on (one human DIPG tumour measurement exists), so Checkable is 2.
Think we got it wrong?
Ruled-out problems can come back. Tell us what we missed.